View full sizeThis is where it all started, with wasabi-flavored vodka from Oddka. If you give a mouse a cookie, he will ask for a glass of milk. If you give a mouse a bottle of vodka, well, he'd get drunk.Express-Times photo | JAMES MOENING

What if Tony the Tiger offered you a drink — one, perhaps, you were told would taste like electricity?

Most would put down the red cup and call it a night. But, no, ever tempted, I have taken that bait.

This season, Pernod Ricard has launched a new brand of vodka, Oddka by Wyborowa, offering a range of fun, funky flavors. Only a few states, including Pennsylvania, have had a taste ahead of the brand's larger rollout next spring.

Lately, the flavored vodka market has stagnated, with little in the way of new and unusual offerings. Oddka fixes that.

Oddka, the company says, is the result of experimentation and molecular mixology by inventor Wit Oddoski. It is produced in Poland at the Oddoski family factories, which are owned and operated by The Wyborowa Co., a division of The Absolut Co. within the Pernod Ricard group.

Sounds good on paper. And on paper is where Oddka gets stuck. That's because, as far as the consumer is concerned, Oddoski isn't real. According to Pernod Ricard, he's "a virtual character in the real world." Which is to say, he's a sock puppet, like Tony the Tiger or Toucan Sam, one who appears on bottles and in advertisements and even, purportedly, maintains Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Deciphering this pedigree, it's easy to envision marketing professionals deeply entrenched in a distiller's laboratory, swishing beakers and test tubes. This is vodka with heritage seeking a new direction, buoyed by a corporate arm reaching for millennial markets that are as concerned with identity as they are with their own trousers hitting the floor after a night of drinks.

And there's nothing wrong that.

View full sizeAll the ingredients necessary to make a Japanese Garden cocktail using Oddka wasabi-flavored vodka.Express-Times photo | JAMES MOENING

With liver at stake and curiosity as ante, I took a chance to sample Oddka's wasabi, salty caramel popcorn and electricity flavors.

Each is somewhat sweet and drinkable on its own. The wasabi vodka smells more of wasabi than it tastes, which should assuage the fears of those who have ever mistakenly eaten a hunk of green paste next to their sushi. The salty caramel popcorn reminded me of the thrill I felt the first time I ate Jelly Belly jelly beans. Unfortunately, I found little to appreciate about the electricity flavor, which reminded me of a blue raspberry Dum Dum lollipop.

With the exception of the electricity flavor, all Oddka vodkas have suggested cocktail recipes ("oddtails") on the company's website.

I decided to try out all those that I could; they ended up being largely enjoyable and fun to make.

View full sizeJapanese Garden and edamameExpress-Times photo | JAMES MOENING

As a redhead, I had a laugh over the difficulty I was having while making ginger juice. Grating fresh ginger into a cheese cloth and then wringing it out into a measuring glass took a bit of work, but the payoff was worth it. The bright yellow liquid lent a lot of flavor to the drinks.

Recipes for the salty caramel popcorn vodka advocate garnishing some of the drinks with popcorn. My advice is you eat it promptly. The salt on your palate balances the sweetness of the cocktails, and it can get a bit soggy otherwise.

Oddka has enlisted its team in coming up with cocktail recipes for the electricity vodka. In the meantime, I dabbled on my own. It ends up being surprisingly tasty if you combine it with a little lychee liqueur and stir it into a glass of red wine.

Flavored Oddka is 60 proof; unflavored Odddka is 80 proof. The suggested price is $15.99 for a 750 ml bottle.

That's a small price to pay if you're looking to try something new, and I promise you haven't had anything quite like this before.